(Reuters) — At least 32 people were killed and dozens more injured on Saturday (January 21) night when nine coaches of a passenger train derailed in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh, in the latest disaster to hit the vast and accident-prone state railways, officials said.
The express train from Jagdalpur to Bhubaneswar derailed near Kuneri station, around 30 km (18 miles) outside the town of Raigarh.
District collector of Raigarh district in India’s eastern state of Odisha, Poonam Guha, said on Sunday (January 22) relief and rescue operations were in full swing to save as many lives as possible.
Rescuers pulled many injured passengers from the derailed coaches and looked for survivors, sawing through the mangled coaches.
A team of doctors was at the site treating the injured.
Investigation was underway on the cause of the accident.
“We can see that track is broken at two places. The two (unclear) rails next to the main stock rail on which the wheel is, we can see cuts on them. This is being looked into by an expert team,” said senior Indian Railways official Chandralekha Mukherjee at the accident site.
Indian railways, built during British colonial rule, have an appalling safety record – the result of decades of underinvestment and a priority on keeping fares low for the 23 million passengers who use the network every day.
In the last serious accident, 150 people died when a train derailed late last year in Uttar Pradesh. India recorded 27,581 railway deaths in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, with most victims falling from, or being struck by, moving trains.